


Reader of the Strings

by hearteating



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, ToT: Trick - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-10 23:31:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12310179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearteating/pseuds/hearteating
Summary: Those in the know visit the Matchmaker, hoping she will tell them the name of their true love.





	Reader of the Strings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [makiyakinabe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/makiyakinabe/gifts).



The world, full of people as it is, is criss-crossed by strings of fate. At the center of these strings, like a spider, sits the Matchmaker.

For those who know who she is, and for those who can pay, she can tell them the name of the person on the other side of their string. The Matchmaker does not work for money-- the richest man in the world could not convince her to listen to him if she didn't want to-- but rather for favors and bargains. She eats for free at the old teahouse she conducts her business in, a favor from the owner and his wife. She does not pay rent. She has a seat at the opera house (barely used, but it's a good one, and it's hers). All her needs are taken care of, and all she needs to do is read the strings.

She used to work for free, subtly and not-so-subtly matching friends and strangers alike with their destined partners. People don’t always appreciate being meddled with, however, and the strings of fate were not always kind. Mistakes were made, and the Matchmaker left her hometown to start a new life.

Next, she charged ludicrous prices for her services, marketing herself to listless, disenchanted people with too much money. There were times she debated steering these people wrong, pointing them towards someone other than the person at the end of their string, but she had pride in her work and her abilities, and she never succumbed to the urge. In time, though, she grew bored, itchy and unsatisfied. She left again.

She settled down, for good this time, and began to bargain. It suited here well.

The Matchmaker is good at reading people. It’s an innate skill, further honed by years of reading strings and people both, and it would be a lie to say that skill does not influence whether or not she chooses to take on a client. The Matchmaker is practical, but she can be, as everyone can, petty and judgmental. There is little she dislikes more than being ordered around, as if her gift is something the client is entitled to.

So there are times when she reaches out to the person at the other end of the string and realizes they are just like her client. The two would bring out the worst in each other and end up miserable. Fate isn't always kind, after all. These are the times when she smiles and asks for something ridiculous in exchange. She has three tiaras somewhere in her apartment.

There are also times when she reaches out to the person at the other end of the string and realizes they are a far better person than the one in front of her. Fate is not always fair, either. These are the times when she declines, and stares stone-faced at her would-be clients until they leave.

She likes to think she isn't cruel. Fate can afford to be arbitrary, to be unkind and unfair. She has to live with herself, and with what she can do. Still, if she isn't cruel, she is not always kind, either. Not everyone deserves kindness, to her mind. Not everyone deserves to find out who is at the other end of their string.

The Matchmaker sits in the old teahouse, a queen on her throne, a spider in its web, and reads the strings of Fate.


End file.
